Depth control system for torpedoes



Jan. 1, 1952 H. L. PRESCOTT DEPTH CONTROL SYSTEM FOR TORPEDOES Filed March 8, 1946 WITNESSES:

INVENTOR fle/fier/ Z Fresco/2f ATTORNEY Fafented jam. 1, 1 952 DEPTHoONTRoL Herbert 'L. rieseat,

2,580,835; I SYSTEM FORTORPEDOES ,ATENT OFFICE mesne assignments, to the, United state's of America as represented by th Scre'tary of the Navy ApplicationMar'ch s, 1946; Serial N6; sais' My invention relates to an electric systr'r'rof control and more particularly to regulating means. My invention has general utility but to disclose its merits, I- have shown my invention applied to the elevator rudders for a torpd'o for controlling the depth of operation of the torpedo. The Government of the Unitd'states has been granted'a certain royalty-free license for governmental purposes with respect to the invention disclosed herein. y p p p In the conventional'fdepth control for a torpedo, as at present in'us'e, a pendulum, mounted in the'torpedo, closes a contact to e'n'erg'izjeither the up-rudoler" solenoid or the downruddef'solenoid depending'on thedeparture of'the torpedo l longitudinal axis from the normal aspect" angle of thetorpedo. In the normal desired operation of a torpedo, the torped'oprogre'sjses through the" Water with a slight nose-up position. In' short, the" desired operation requires" that the 1611' "i' tudinal axis of the torpedo make a small u angle with the horizontal. This fangleis'designateotlief normal aspect angle of the torpedo amiscbasider'ed the neutral position of the" torpedo. The control efiect' of the depth co'ntr'ol pendulii'ni'is thus made to' be a function of the swing oftlie pendulum with reference to a plane normal the neutral position. w

The delays in the operation of the relays; sole noids, and mechanical componentsoausetlie torp'edo'to go considerably away from theneutfal position" before the elevators are actually operated', thus causing wide variatiofis'i'ri pitcli arigle'v during the" running of the torpedo.

One specific" object of my" inventio'r'tr''is'top aduce'anticipatory control "elfects" on the" eiva-wrs" of a torpedo t'o tli'u's decrease the variafib'ns'm pitching angle ofa t'orp'edo; V l

A broad Object of my invefrltioficisthe provision" of aperiodic" control efie'ct afig'ul'airly in' advance" by a selected angle toth'e'" cyclic" variations are; physical quantity to 'thus'fsiibstan'tialli eliminate the-cyclic variations of the physical quantity Another broad object of my invention is'to'p vide v for the substantial eliminatioii of' the p of" control; and

Fig-.2 shows acurve-"of value in; disclosing znyf" invention:

. 2 The best understanding of my inve u q probably be had from a study of the functions oftli apparatus shown in Figure l. h 'Th'e instafit tli torpedo begins to accelerate 5 awar ,t'lie left the moment the torpedo launched, or fired from the firing tube, thependulufii P swings counterclockwise about the r'i ii rio t X.- This acceleration of the torpedo efiects engagefr'i'entfbetw'e'en the movable contact 2 on the the daemon the firinggtube to actuate the overo'efiter tfige'r switch T to operate to close the I H, adjusted for ase ecteddeptn of operatiomals o" acts1onthepe'ndulum'. v v The" operations above mentioned establish circuit from the" positive terminal of'the battery B: throughconductonl, contacts 2 and 3", conductor i act'uati'rig' coil 5 of the"auxiliary down relay 6; conductors" 7 and 8', and contacts 9 and lil t'o the negative terminal or the battery; 'opef-' ati'o'nfof relay 6' establishes a" circuit from coriducto'r' I through conductor" l I", contacts [2, now

control relay 1 4; and conductor" l5" t6 the negatively'ene'rizedlconductor' 8.

operation or: thef'elevator dont'ror relay estab li'shes"a"ciicuit'f'froni conductor" I; through can: a ductor" l6; contacts IT, now closed; the down rudder solenoid con I8andconductor [no can;

ductorf 8'2 The armature 2D is" thus mdv'e'a' toward is; m veu clockwise" toniove the" elevators down; onolockwi's'e. The'tor'pdo, therefore; im-

torp'edo is beyond the, propulsive effect .oi firin'g t'ube; the acceleration toward the left ceases and the; nqrmai operation of the depth c0fltIO1takSefieCtl I As the nose or the torpedo; asjus't starts down and theaclcele'ration towardthe legit ceases, the pendu um begins to clockwise Theinitial'operation'isto open the'circuit at contac'ts'Z ad's. h W

ionb'u't also is res onsive to the, dis a Movement of the elevators to dulum P has even reached its neutral, or mid-,

position. A phase advance is thus produced on the rudders ahead of the pendulum position.

It is apparent that the inertia of the torpedo.

body is such that the nose 'will continue down even though the ruders are in the up-rudder position. The pendulum thus moves to close contacts 7 2 and 33 whereupon a circuit is established from Fig. 2 where the curve 36 represents the periodic swing of the torpedo with reference to its horizontal, or neutral, position.

At the moment of firing of the torpedo the elevators have a down-rudder position for a short time t. While the torpedo gains depth and has a nose-,downiposition, the; elevators have an up position for timetz. Fortune 153 the elevators have a down position although the torpedo nose is down but swinging to an up position. For time t; the elevators remain down, while the torpedo swings from a nose-down position to the maximum nose-up position and beg-ins to swing to a nose-down position. During the time intervals t5, t3 and a; the elevators are up, but its represents the advance phase angle.

The diagram of Fig. 2 thus shows that the rud- V der operations occur before the neutral position the energized contact 33 through the actuating coil 26 of the auxiliary up relay 2! to energized conductor 8.

Operation of relay 2'! closes contacts 28 to establish a circuit from conductor 1 through contacts 28, actuating coil 29 of the sequence control relay'39 and contacts 3!, now closed, to conductor 8. This relay closes contact 32 and thus the relay holds itself in.

' As the torpedo is being moved from the maximum nose-down position in the direction of a nose-up position but before the torpedo has even attained a horizontal position the circuit at contacts 2 and 33 is interrupted. The auxiliary up relay 2'! is deenergized to open contacts 28 and to close contacts 34. Since relay 30 is energized contacts 35 are closed. The consequence is that the rudder control relay I4 is energizedto efiect the deenergization of the'up-rudder solenoid 25 and the energization of the down-rudder solenoid i8.

From this action, it will be apparent that while the torpedo is still in a nose-down position but swingingto an up-nose position, the rudders 22 are movedto a down-rudder position by a certain phase angle in advance of the torpedo movement. As the torpedo swings to an up-nose position, contacts 2 and 3 are closed. This operation closes the circuit for the auxiliary down relay 6. This relay closes contacts i2'to thus maintain the rudder control relay energized independent of contacts '34 and 35. The elevators thus remain in the down-rudder position while the torpedo completes its swing to its maximum up-nose position.

The effect of the elevators will, of course, be to swing the torpedo back from its maximum nose-up position toward a horizontal position.

When the relay 6, in the last operation of this relay above discussed, closed contacts I2, it also opened contacts 3!. This latter operation deenergizes the sequence control relay 30 with the result that contacts 35 are opened. This opening of the contact 35 does not at the moment it does occur affect the operation of the rudder control relay H but when the torpe'do'makes a given relatively small up-nose angle with the horizontal during its'swing from up-nose angle to a horizontal position the circuit at contacts 2 and 3 are interrupted. The auxiliary down relay 6 is thus deen-ergized. In consequence, the rudder control relay I4 is deenergized effecting the energization of solenoid 25.

Again the elevators are moved to an up position in angular advance to the movement of the torpedo. The cycle thus repeats itself during the periodic movement of the torpedo. The movement may become even clearer from a study of is reached, thus providing a phase advance to compensate for the inertia of the body being controlled and the time delay of the operating elements;

'To obtain the least possible oscillation, the

larly varying quantity where the time constant of the variable quantity is greater than constant of the control mechanism.

From the foregoing it is thus apparent that I provide a damping effect to swings of the torpedo that goes into action while the torpedo is moving in a given direction before having attained a neutral position. The oscillations of the'torpedo are thus reduced to a minimum.

the time "It is thus apparent that my invention is not,

limited to the particular showing made but is to be limited only by the scope of the claim hereto appended.

I claim as my invention:

1.In' .a system of control, in combination, a conveyance traveling at a given rate through a fluid medium, elevator rudders on said conveyance for controlling the travel of said conveyance with reference to a horizontal plane, the normal tendency of said conveyance is to oscillate periodically angularly in a vertical plane, a pendulum on said conveyance disposed to re-' main fixed vertically -while said conveyance oscillates, a source of electric energy on said conveyance, switching means held in closed position by said pendulum for all angles of declinationofthe conveyance greater than a given relatively small angle of declination, an electromagnetic device energized by said switching me'ans'when in closed position, first electromagnetic'means for actuating said elevator rudders to the lip-rudder position, second electromagnetic means for actuating said elevator rudders to the down rudder position, an elevator control relay including a first switch normally closed when'said relay is deenergized to energize the first electromagnetic means, and including a second switch operable to closed position by the energiz'ationpf said relay to thus efiect the energization of said second electromagnetic means, and contact means operable by said eleqtromagr netic device for energizing said relay upon movement of the conveyance from some relatively great angle of declination to an angle of declination less than said given relatively small angle of declination.

2. In a system of control fora torpedo, in

combination, a torpedo in normal use propelled through the sea at a given speed and depth but which torpedo normally swings angularly in a vertical plane, that is, pitches above the horizontal and below the horizontal through angles of elevation and angles of declination, elevator rudders for the torpedo, a pendulum mounted in the torpedo and adapted to remain vertically so that the angle the pendulum makes at any instant with torpedo axis is a measure of the angles of elevation and angles of declination, a source of electric energy in said torpedo, switching means including one pair of contacts held closed by the pendulum for all angles of declination greater than a given relatively small angle of declination, an electromagnetic device closed by the pendulum i'or allfa gles of declination greater than a given relatively small angle of declination and including; another pair of contacts held closed by the pendulum for all angles of elevation greater than given relatively small angle of elevationgarr electromagnetic device energized from sai said one pair of contacts are closed; first electromagnetic means for actuating said elevator rudders to up-rudder position, a second electromagnetic device energized from said--*s0urce when said other pair of contacts are closed, second electromagnetic means for actuating said elevator rudders to down-rudder position, an elevator control relay including a first switch normally closed when said relay is deenergized to energize the first electromagnetic means, and including a second switch operable to closed position by the energized from said source when said one pair of contacts are closed, first electromagnetic means for actuating said elevator rudders to uprudder position, an elevator control relay in cluding a first switch normally closed when said relay is deenergized to energize the first electromagnetic means, and including a second switch operable to closed position by the energization of said relay to thus efiect the energization of said second electromagnetic means, and first contact means operable by said electromagnetic device for energizing said relay upon movement of the torpedo from some relatively great angle of declination less than said given relatively small angle of declination.

3. In a system of control for a torpedo, in combination, a torpedo in normal use propelled through the sea at a given speed and depth but which torpedo normally swings angularly in a vertical plane, that is, pitches above the hori-.

zontal and below the horizontal through angles of elevation and angles of declination, elevator rudders for the torpedo, a pendulum mounted in the torpedo and adapted to remain vertically so that the angle the pendulum makes at any instant with torpedo axis is a measure of the angles of elevation and angles of declination, a source of electric energy in said torpedo, switching means including one pair of contacts held REFERENCES amt The following references arefof record in the file of this patent: 1

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